Build One Library, Not Two

November 5, 2000

Boca Raton needs a new library. But two?

A majority of residents surveyed earlier this year said the city wasn't spending enough on library services. They were asked some hypothetical questions about a new library, but no cost estimate was provided. In 1994, though, voters rejected a $12.5 million bond issue for a proposed new library that many said was too big, too grandiose and too costly.

Now comes a consultant's report recommending not one new library, but two. One would be built near Military Trail for the community's western residents. The other would be built downtown to replace the current library, which would be demolished. The new building would be more than twice as large as the existing one.

Talk about grandiose. The consultant estimated the cost at between $19.4 million and $21.9 million. That'll give voters something to chew on while the city decides whether to put a bond issue referendum on the March ballot.

Chew on this. Wouldn't it make more sense to keep the current facility downtown and build just one large new library for the western area? Given the burgeoning western population, the new facility could serve as the main library, with the current facility playing a supplemental role. Wouldn't that be more economical?

Letting the voters decide is the right approach. The referendum should go forward. But it's hard to see how the city expects to sell voters on a project almost twice as expensive as the one they rejected six years ago.